Infringements and sanctions

Infringements and sanctions

EU point system for serious fisheries infringements

To ensure that fishing rules are applied in the same way in all member countries, and to harmonise the way infringements are sanctioned, the EU has established a list of serious infringements of the rules of the common fisheries policy. EU countries must include in their legislation effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, and ensure that the rules are respected.

As from 1 January 2012, EU countries should have introduced a point system for serious infringements. Under the scheme, national authorities will:

impose a pre-set number of penalty points on vessels involved in serious infringements (points are recorded in the national registry of fisheries offences)

suspend the vessel’s licence for 2, 4, 8 or 12 months when a pre-set number of points have been accumulated in a 3-year period.

Points are attributed to the fishing licence that is linked to a vessel, so they will stay with the vessel even when it is sold on to a new owner.

Detailed rules for the point system have been drawn up at EU level in close cooperation with EU governments.

EU countries will also be required to establish a point system for masters of fishing vessels.

The point system does not introduce new sanctions and does not interfere with the discretionary power of the national judge in assessing the facts of the case and the gravity of the behaviour in question.

The Commission may verify the application of the sanctioning systems in the EU countries which may involve processing of personal data. For more information on such processing and the rights of data subjects see the specific privacy statement[1].

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 404/2011[3]of 8 April 2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy

Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009[4] of 20 November 2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy, amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, (EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) No 509/2007, (EC) No 676/2007, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 1300/2008, (EC) No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006